Legal Associate At UNOPS

BACKGROUND INFORMATION – Legal Group

The purpose of the Legal Group is to lead the organization’s legal strategy and practice. The core functions of the Legal Practice Group are to:

a. Articulate legal policies and processes; enable operationalization and managerial oversight through appropriate systems and reports; provide corporate advice and guidance; and strengthen the knowledge, skills and career development of legal practitioners.

b. Enable UNOPS legal and contracting activities to execute the organization’s business strategy.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION – JOB-SPECIFIC

UNOPS supports the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to serve people in need by expanding the ability of the United Nations, governments and other partners to manage projects, infrastructure and procurement in a sustainable and efficient manner. Working in some of the world’s most challenging environments, our vision is to advance sustainable implementation practices, always satisfying or surpassing our partners’ expectations. A flexible structure and global reach means that we can quickly respond to our partners’ needs, while offering the benefits of economies of scale.

This position will report to the Director of the Legal Group but will solely serve the Commercial and Institutional Law Practice of the UNOPS Legal Group.

The primary responsibilities of the Legal Associate will be to provide legal assistance on commercial and institutional matters, to perform reviews of legal documents, and to support the Corporate Legal Advisor in internal and external meetings, negotiations and disputes. The position may involve some elements of legal research and drafting, but will be primarily administrative. The position will give exposure to a wide variety of types of work overseen by the UNOPS Legal Group.

FUNCTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Under the supervision of the Director of the Legal Group and the overall guidance of the Corporate Legal Advisor, the Legal Associate will be responsible for the following duties:

Drafts, edits, proofreads, finalizes and processes legal correspondence and communications with internal and external stakeholders, including senior management and external partners, for internal clearances, approval and signature; monitors requisite follow-up actions.
Provides secretarial, administrative and logistics support to internal and external meetings, boards, committees or conferences on legal matters, including assisting in the preparation of minutes, draft summaries, reports, notes, documents, etc.; track status of meetings; monitor follow-up actions.
Compiles, organizes and reviews legal information and legal reference materials from various sources for internal and external meetings, briefings, work plans, legal reports, conferences, etc.
Supports Legal Advisors within the Commercial & Institutional Practice of the Legal Group in providing efficient and consistent legal advice to clients by setting up internal knowledge management systems (for example, by setting up document libraries, maintaining and reviewing internal processes and intranet sites, reviewing existing legal templates, etc).
Assists in the preparation of legal documents for electronic storage, access and circulation/publication, including document scanning and conversion, review of content and extraction of key data and text excerpts for categorization and indexing purposes, etc.
Sets up and maintains legal reference files and records (electronic and paper) for the Legal Group (for example, Host Country Agreement database, Due Diligence Register, etc).
Administers the non-legal aspects of the due diligence system, i.e. intake and tracking of requests, supporting referral for research to internal or external reviewers, filing of due diligence records in the register, maintaining a searchable database of entities, responding to routine queries, updating reviews on a rolling basis for existing partners, clients and funding sources.
Assists with the enhancement of existing systems for record management and retrieval, including development of proposals for consideration.
Assists with the registration and publication of international treaties and other legal instruments.
Responds to moderately complex information requests and inquiries (for example, answers to requests requiring file search, etc).
Handles, or refers to the appropriate Legal Advisor, a variety of verbal and written inquiries from internal or external stakeholders, including providing information on processes and procedures related to specific legal activities, instruments, etc; maintains an overview of assigned tasks within the Legal Group to ensure optimal capacity allocation.
Updates external and internal websites, contributes to the development and dissemination of guidance notes and reading materials, schedules webinars and other capacity building sessions;
Updates and maintains distribution lists for internal and external working groups; monitors, prepares and distributes various legal materials and reports; handles arrangements for printing and translation as necessary; coordinates shipment arrangements, courier services, etc.
Performs general administrative tasks, including preparing and/or processing administrative requests/documents.

REQUIREMENTS

Education:

Secondary education required.
A Diploma or University Degree preferably in law or related field would be desirable, and may substitute for some of the required years of experience, but it is not a requirement.

Experience:

At least six years of experience providing support to a legal office/government agency/international organization is required;
Experience working as a paralegal or legal assistant in a law firm, international or multilateral organisation is a strong asset;
Experience with legal drafting and an ability to draft concisely, under time pressure is highly desired;
Experience with the usage of Google suite is desired;
UN experience is desirable but not a requirement.

Language requirements:

Fluency in English, both written and verbal, is required;
Knowledge of French and/or Spanish is an advantage.

CONTRACT TYPE, DURATION AND LEVEL

Contract type: ICA
Contract level: LICA – 6
Contract duration: 7-months contract with possibility of extension, subject to organizational requirements, availability of funds and satisfactory performance.

For more details about the ICA contractual modality, please follow this link:
https://www.unops.org/english/Opportunities/job-opportunities/what-we-offer/Pages/Individual-Contractor-Agreements.aspx